Thank you, alumni, for helping me along the way

The communications world is a small place, and it sparkles with K-Staters. I realized this when I stepped off the plane for my first assignment as a traveling communications intern for ZimmComm New Media, LLC. At the time, I had just finished my sophomore year studying agricultural communications and journalism at Kansas State University, and I was still incredibly intimidated by the world of communications.

My assignment for ZimmComm took me to Lexington, Kentucky, for the Alltech Symposium. Upon arrival, I was supposed to locate a shuttle to the hotel and meet up with my boss. For a Kansas girl who had flown only a few times, this was quite an undertaking. I made it through the airport and found the shuttle stop. As I waited for it to arrive, a man in a suit approached me. He was a K-State graduate headed to the same conference and had noticed my K-State dairy judging shirt. My nervousness and stress about the trip and conference melted away as I settled into a conversation about K-State football and his memories of attending K-State.

Of all my experiences I have had as an intern and a K-State student, one of the coolest has been making connections in the small world of communications. No matter what event I attend, I always seem to run into a K-Stater who is willing to talk K-State football or lend me a helpful piece of advice.

This past summer, I completed my dream internship in Wisconsin for Hoard’s Dairyman magazine. Even there, in the heart of Badger country, I connected with K-State alumni. The former managing editor of the magazine wasSteve Larson, a K-State graduate. On his visits to the office, we would talk about K-State and the way dairying has changed in Kansas.

While there, I also met Wendy (Mayo) Hushon, a K-State agricultural communications and journalism graduate, who gave me some fantastic advice for surviving as editor of the Agriculturist.

The internship also provided me with opportunities to grow as a journalist and as an individual while my assignments took me to 18 different states and introduced me to new contacts in the dairy industry. Along the way, I met more K-Staters, several people who knew K-Staters and those who thought I went to that school with the Jayhawk mascot.

When I chose this major as a freshman, I never expected to feel so strongly connected as part of the K-State and communications families. As I prepare for graduation, I am grateful for these relationships.

To the alumni I have already met, thanks for talking to me and inviting me to be part of the communications world. To those I have not met, thanks for giving K-State such a good reputation, and I look forward to meeting you in the future.

(Author, Maggie Seiler served as editor of the Agriculturist this past semester. She and associate and assistant editors, Logan Britton and Shelby Mettlen led the effort to create the spring 2015 issue.)